The West Virginia-bound Jabarie Hinds won five gold balls during his career as a member of the Mount Vernon basketball team. Matthew brown/The journal news / Matthew Brown / The Journal News

Written by

In a moment last fall that Bob Cimmino found both comical and profound, an unmistakable picture appeared in his Twitter feed. It captured a young boy from New Rochelle dressed up to trick-or-treat on Halloween.

It wasn't the boy — whom he didn't know — that sparked Cimmino's attention, but rather the costume, a clear-as-glass-backboard ode to Jabarie Hinds, complete with a No. 5 Mount Vernon jersey.

Looking back, Cimmino still finds his star's soaring popularity amusing. Just not as much as his basketball, a mix of skill and savvy that is often sublime.

"He's fallen in the line of greatness," Cimmino said. "In order to do that, he had to work very, very hard."

The tireless 6-foot guard just finished adding to his living legend with a banner senior season that included local, state and national honors, state and Federation championships and now a second straight Westchester/Putnam boys basketball player of the year award.

As he said in November, Hinds set out to cap his five-year varsity career by winning everything. The verdict is in. He claimed another Section 1 "Mr. Basketball" and co-New York state "Mr. Basketball" for his own and a record ninth state title and a fifth Federation title for his city.

"This was my last year around here. There was no next year in high school," said Hinds, who will play collegiately at West Virginia. "Next year, I'll be at the next level, so I wanted to go all-out this year, and that's what I did."

Throughout the regular season, that too often meant expending maximum energy at practice or 6 a.m. YMCA workouts with teammate Isaiah Cousins. The Knights were so dominant at times against their Section 1 schedule that Hinds was relegated to six, eight or 10 minutes, and it limited his overall numbers to 17.7 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.7 steals per game.

Hinds didn't care. Cimmino found his star eager to play every minute he was needed but willing to cede or share the spotlight in the name of team growth or unity.

When teammate Jamell Walker dazzled at the County Center and earned MVP honors at the Section 1 tournament, Hinds clutched another prize closest: his fifth gold ball.

(Page 2 of 3)

No one around here has ever won as many.

"He was glad to share the limelight so it wasn't always on him," Cimmino said. "He had got what he wanted. He got the gold ball."

Mount Vernon was content its team came that far. In January, Hinds lit up national champion St. Anthony of Jersey City in defeat, performing to the point Cimmino said, "We would've been embarrassed if he didn't carry us."

Hinds always seemed to thrive against Mount Vernon's top opponents — Dr. Phillips (Fla.) and Montverde (Fla.) in Hawaii, Taft (Calif.) in Massachusetts and St. Anthony's — and, long after his teammates had moved toward the brink of a championship, he delivered again, dropping 31 points to help defeat defending champ Christ the King in the Federation championship game.

"You can average 40 points a game, but if you're not winning, it's not going to feel great," Hinds said. "Winning was the most important."

Without winning, there may be a costume. Without winning, Cimmino may hear one student tell another he had his "Jabarie-O's" this morning, as he did this week. But without winning, Hinds would never have left a legacy as unmistakable as that Twitter photo, a legacy as one of the unquestioned greats from one of the state's most storied programs.

"To end the script," Cimmino said, "he had to go out the way he did."

First team

Peter Aguilar, Mount St. Michael: The 6-foot-2 guard broke the school scoring record set in 1996 by Jarrett Lockhart, who played at Pitt. As a senior, Aguilar averaged 26.2 points and 6.4 rebounds per game in leading Mount to the CHSAA A title and finished his career with 1,881 points. Marist, Canisius, St. Francis and Manhattan are among his suitors.

Conroy Baltimore, Stepinac: At 6-foot-5, the Lehigh-bound senior averaged 15 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks per game for the CHSAA A semifinalist and was widely considered the top defensive player in the Lower Hudson Valley. Baltimore joined the rare 1,000-1,000 club, finishing his career with 1,062 points and 1,111 rebounds.

(Page 3 of 3)

P.J. Torres, New Rochelle: The 6-foot-3 senior played just about every position on the floor and led the Huguenots to impressive victories over top New York City programs St. Raymond and Wings Academy. He averaged 20.2 points, 9.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game, and he committed to Duquesne last week.

Matt Townsend, Horace Greeley: At 6-foot-7, the Yale-bound senior proved he was the section's most dominant big man. He led the area by averaging 29.9 points per game, and he averaged 15.5 rebounds as well. Townsend joined Baltimore in the exclusive 1,000-point, 1,000-rebound club with 1,516 and 1,021, respectively.

Coach of the year

Ted Repa, Byram Hills: In his ninth year on the Bobcats' sideline, Repa led the team on one of the more remarkable runs in Section 1 basketball. The Bobcats lost in the first round of the playoffs in 2010 but rolled through the Nos. 4, 1 and 2 seeds in succession to win this year's Class A championship. It was the first title since 1978 for Byram Hills, despite a rotation with just three seniors. Repa's team won its regional final and advanced to the state semis.